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Dear Eloise,
Tonight we had our first taste of my buck from this season! I wanted to share with you our favorite way to prepare venison. As I was cooking the venison, Peanut asked me if I knew how to cook it like Dad, I think I did pretty well!!
When we process the venison, we find the best cuts of meat and slice them into 1/2″ thin pieces, these are usually about 2-3″ long. These are pieces that do not have any fat, tendon, or any “silvery” texture to them. The tendon and fat will make your steaks very chewy, and if your kids are like mine, they will chew and chew til they decide to spit them out. We have been using our Food Saver, which we have had for years, but we just recently started using it for venison. This link is the newer version of mine. I love that I can use the Food Saver roll and make my own bags for whatever portion size I want. I have found that these bags really keep the meat in good condition, even for months in the deep freezer.
First I like to get all my ingredients ready. For this meal I use my large 12″ skillet, I have a heavy-duty commercial quality one that I purchased at Sam’s Club, as well as another 12″ skillet that is our 2nd in line. Don’t we all have those pans, you replace them, but you aren’t quite ready to part with them yet so you just use them when your favorite pan is being used.
As I gather my ingredients I add a good amount of vegetable oil to my best 12″ skillet, enough so that the entire bottom is covered. I turn this skillet up to medium-medium/low heat. When I add the floured steaks I want it to sizzle. We also need a dinner plate with a good amount of flour on it. I like to have about 1/2 cup or more. This is what we will coat our venison steaks in before placing them in the hot oil.
I am able to thaw my venison steaks right in the Food Saver bags, I like to do 1 minute in the microwave and then turn over and do 1 minute more. I do this a couple of times, manipulating the bag each time as I turn it to try and break up the frozen meat. I know there are those who frown upon microwaving any plastics, but this is what works for our family.
In your second skillet, we then add 3 tablespoons or so of butter. We grow big beautiful purple onions in our garden so when we have fresh onions this makes the meal that much better! I usually can use just one of our big onions, but if it is a smaller onion, I use two. I like to slice my onions into thin strips. This skillet can be on medium for a couple of minutes until most of the onions are translucent. I then turn the heat down to very low and put a lid on. After a batch of venison steaks are cooked, I will add them to this skillet to keep warm and absorb some of those delicious onion flavors.
Once I have thawed the venison, I coat it in flour and place it into the skillet with hot oil. I’ll add a few shakes of Lawry’s Seasoned Salt, which we feel adds just the right amount of flavor. It takes 3-5 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the cuts as well as how hot the oil is. I usually gauge the top side as looking nearly cooked through, then I turn the venison over and complete cooking on the other side. Venison gets tough if it is cooked too long, however, we also don’t want to eat wild game raw like we might a beef from our farm, so we do make sure that it is cooked completely through. After each piece is done, I can add the cooked venison to the skillet of onions.
The finished product is so delicious, a perfect combination of venison with sweet onion. Peanut, Sprout, and Bean all had clean plates which is a win in my book!!!
Please write back and share what you think and any of your favorite venison recipes!